Radio frequency identification (RFID) systems are used to detect and prevent inventory shrinkage and to perform inventory management functions in a variety of retail establishments, apparel and mass merchandisers, supermarkets, libraries, video stores, and the like. In general, such systems use an intelligent tag which is secured to or associated with an article (or its packaging), typically an article which is readily accessible to potential customers or facility users. The process wherein intelligent tags are secured to or associated with an article (or its packaging) is often referred to as “tagging” the article. In general, such RFID systems are employed for detecting the presence (or the absence) of a unique intelligent tag and, thus, a protected article within a surveilled security area or detection zone, also referred to herein as an “interrogation zone.” The detection zone is located at or around an exit or entrance to the facility or a portion of the facility, at the point of sale, or proximate to a hand-held, portable interrogator.
One type of RFID system which has gained widespread popularity uses an intelligent tag which includes a self-contained, passive resonant circuit in the form of a small, generally planar printed circuit which resonates at a predetermined detection frequency within a detection frequency range. A transmitter, which is also tuned to the detection frequency, transmits electromagnetic energy or an interrogation signal into the detection zone. A receiver, tuned to the detection frequency detects amplitude disturbances on the electromagnetic field that are imparted by the intelligent tag. When an article having an attached intelligent tag moves into or passes through the detection zone, the intelligent tag is exposed to the transmitted energy. That is, the intelligent tag is interrogated. The detection of such an output signal by the receiver indicates the presence of an article with an intelligent tag within the detection zone and the receiver activates an alarm to alert appropriate security or other personnel.
One well-known RFID system has a transmitting and detecting frequency in the radio frequency range. The intelligent tags used with such systems are referred to as RF tags or RF intelligent tags. The RF tags associated with each article may be identical so that all articles having an intelligent tag, regardless of article size or value, return an identical signal to the receiver. Alternatively, the RF tags may be passive resonant intelligent tags which return unique identification codes. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,446,447 (Carney et al.), 5,430,441 (Bickley et al.), and 5,347,263 (Carroll et al.) disclose three examples of such intelligent tags. These intelligent tags typically include an integrated circuit to generate a unique identification code. Such “intelligent” tags provide additional information about the article detected in the zone of the interrogator. These intelligent tags typically respond to, and transmit signals, in the radio frequency range, and are known in the art as “radio frequency identification (RFID) tags or “intelligent tags.” RFID tags are used in RFID systems. Intelligent tags may also resonate at non-RF frequency bands, and may be referred generically as “EAS markers.”
Existing RFID systems of the type described above and of other types have been shown to be effective in preventing the theft or unauthorized removal of articles.
One problem with attempting to read multiple RFID tags within an interrogation zone of a reader is that more than one tag could be activated by the reader or interrogator at about the same time, such that two or more tags may transmit their identification information to the reader at about the same time, thus causing the information to collide, which corrupts the information and prevents the reader from obtaining the desired information. To overcome such data collisions, some interrogators include a means for controlling the transmission of data from individual tags, for example, by shutting individual tags off for predetermined time periods after a response signal is transmitted. Other systems include tags which include circuitry to detect the simultaneous transmission of data by multiple tags. Upon detection of such simultaneous transmissions, the tags abort their transmissions and wait for a prescribed time prior to retransmission, usually for a period of time that is set by a random number. However, this method requires that the tags include collision detection circuitry and a random number generator, both of which excessively increase the cost of the tag chip and tag, and consume additional power which degrades read range.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method of detecting substantially simultaneous transmission of data by multiple tags at the same frequency located within an interrogation zone and compensating for such multiple transmissions in order to accurately read the data transmitted by each tag.
The present invention fulfills this need by providing an anticollision protocol for simultaneously reading multiple RFID tags located in a field of an interrogating antenna or RFID reader and individually identifying the tags through an arbitration process.